My final trip of 2023 was spent skiing in the French Alps. Over the past few years, my family and I have spent most Christmases skiing, however this was our first in France. The plan was to drive to the Alps via the Eurotunnel, ski and snowboard for six days, and then head back home.
22nd December
I worked on the 22nd, which was a Friday, as I had a deadline to meet. This meant that rather than leaving around lunchtime, as initially intended, we instead left at around 6pm; luckily, we'd booked Flexiplus for the Eurotunnel, so we weren't very affected by this delay. There had been strikes in the Eurotunnel the previous day which were called off by the Friday so we were very lucky, and after picking up some dinner in the lounge, we headed straight through into the tunnel. The main benefit of driving for me was that I could fit more luggage in the car, meaning that for the first time I could actually bring a fair amount of Christmas and birthday presents on holiday, which I was very excited about.
After crossing the Channel, we drove for a further 2.5 hours on the other side, arriving at a hotel in Reims at 1am France-time (CET). We then passed out, ready to hit the road again the following morning.
23rd December
The way we'd arranged to split the driving was for each family member to drive for 2 hours, in turn, with their 'partner' sitting shotgun (my brother and I were 'partners', as were my parents), meaning that we effectively rotated through each seat throughout the drive. We set off at around 8am, and arrived at our destination, La Clusaz, at 5pm. We'd bought winter tyres for the road trip but not snow chains, which worked out well since there wasn't any snow on the roads when we arrived. I'm not the biggest fan of Northern France, but as we headed South the landscape became more mountainous and beautiful. After checking in, we explored the town and enjoyed raclette for dinner, which my mum had been most excited about.
24th December
Christmas Eve constituted our first day of skiing. The hotel was 'ski in, ski out', meaning that it was situated at the bottom of a piste, making it very easy to reach the slopes. The weather was beautiful, with blue skies but snow-capped mountains, which is ideal for pictures but isn't great for snow sports.
My brother and I snowboarded whilst my parents skied, though the second run my dad took us down was a flat, long blue run (the worst for snowboarders as it's much harder to gain speed on flats than it is for skiers), which meant I kept catching edges and tripping up, which was not enjoyable at all. Eventually, we made it to the bottom and took a gondola up so that we could ride the reds, which was much easier and more fun. That said, the blue took it out of me so I swapped to skis in the early afternoon (usually I spend half of the holiday snowboarding and half skiing but I was too bruised to even contemplate that). In the afternoon, we treated ourselves to a hot chocolate, which was rich but delicious, and ordered my desired birthday cake for the 26th (a bûche de Noël).
In France, the main Christmas meal is the dinner on Christmas Eve, which they term Réveillon, which we enjoyed at our hotel and were very impressed with. The dinner comprised six courses, including foie gras, truffle mash, lychees, and Yule logs, amongst other dishes, and was delicious (except for the foie gras, which I continue to not be a fan of). After years of thinking that I wasn't a fan of truffles, I discovered that I actually do enjoy truffles, just not truffle oil (which my brother had been declaring for years, though I always made fun of him for that as I assumed he was just being pretentious).
We ended the night by exploring the town once more (a recurring theme of the trip), and saw many cute dogs, which was very appreciated.
25th December
The following day was, of course, Christmas Day! For those who don't know me personally, Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year, so I woke up bright and early ready for a jam-packed day. I opened my stocking in the morning with my family, then spent the day skiing, which is one of my favourite things in the world to do (alongside swimming in the sea), and so much fun.
We ate Nutella-filled crepes in the afternoon in the town, and enjoyed many a game of dominoes (a tradition in my family which we take fairly seriously). I opened more presents throughout the day and was very grateful for what I received, and after reading a bit, it was time for dinner. Once again, dinner was delicious, consisting of baked cheese with cold cuts and salad, followed by dessert of chocolate mousse and fruit salad.
My knees were bruised from snowboarding the previous day and my muscles felt sore, so we spent the evening chilling as a family, reading, and walking through the town.
26th December
2023 was my golden, or champagne, birthday, meaning that I turned the age of my birth date (i.e. I turned 26 on the 26th). I'd already celebrated with the friends the previous week, however that wasn't going to stop me from enjoying every last second of my big day, starting with a 5am wake up.
After breakfast, we revisited the flat blue run that we'd done a couple of days earlier on a snowboard, as it led to another mountain with additional runs, and boy was it a whole new experience on skis; the views were beautiful, the slope was all ours and I captured some wonderful videos of my mum skiing in this idyllic setting.
We had lunch, consisting of a prosciutto salad with cheese croquettes, then went bowling (I came penultimate - not my proudest moment). In the afternoon my brother and I tucked into Nutella Crepes whilst my parents enjoyed hot chocolates and then we collected our pre-ordered birthday cake from the local patisserie.
We arrived back at the hotel, where I opened more presents and heartfelt cards. My boyfriend had messaged at midnight on the dot and I spent the day feeling very loved.
The initial plan had been to go night-skiing, however my family were knackered so we gave it a miss, which was fine especially as we'd already done it years ago in Norway. Instead, we played dominoes over some cocktails (a G&T for me) and as we left the lobby to get ready for dinner, a waiter ran after my mum to ask whose birthday it was (as we had mentioned it in passing to our waitress the previous night). I was apprehensive throughout dinner in case they were going to sing happy birthday or similar but the restaurant became extremely busy and nothing ended up happening. That said, dinner was delicious, comprising a prawn pasta and champagne (to celebrate my champagne birthday), and the Yule log was delicious too (it also had skis on it, which was adorable)!
27th - 29th December
We spent the following days skiing, however as the Christmas period has passed, the slopes became much busier as more holidaymakers made their way to the Alps, and given the sunny weather and lack of real fresh snow, the pistes became icy and full of modules by early afternoon. Luckily, I still enjoyed it greatly as I feel fairly confident on skis (especially compared to on a snowboard).
We spent the evenings playing cards or dominoes over hot chocolates or crepes, and then enjoyed the evening entertainment offered, whether that be a circus performance, live music, or just walking around the town in search for souvenirs. It was very relaxing and I tried to read my books or draft blog posts whenever I could as it's not often that the opportunity presents itself.
30th December
On our final day, after tucking into a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we began the drive back to Calais, taking turns in 2 hour shifts as on the way down. Initially, the plan had been to stay in the north of France overnight and then arrive to London on New Year's Eve, however we arrived at Calais at 6pm so decided it made more sense to head straight home, which was ideal and provided an extra day of holidaying before returning to work.
This trip was exactly what I needed to fully relax and reset and the perfect end to my 2023 travels.
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